Final Fantasy Chronicles
by StarryEyedLight
Summary: What happens when a typical teen is thrust into the universe of FINAL FANTASY, what’s worse is realms are colliding into each other…
1. Prologue

_The prologue to Final Fantasy Chronicles, it's kinda short, but I'm writing this story more for my own entertainment then anything… Um… Oh, I don't own any of the Final Fantasy stuff that appears in this story; all belongs to Square-Enix. :3 I claim Kate though, SHE'S MINE._

_First time posting in this place o.o Now I'm scared D: _

_Err, I don't mean to offend anyone with the language or views taken in the story, its rated Teen so.. If you dun like it, read Kiddy stuff. _

* ~ *

**Final Fantasy Chronicles**

I'm going to be honest; I don't know much about Square-Enix or their franchise. For the most part I'm a typical teenager on the cusp of adulthood. No, I'm not some starkly beautiful woman who wins Prom Queen or gets all the 'best' guys. Neither am I that lowly, ignored girl who has no sense of fashion and maybe one friend who's the school reject. I'm just… Me.

My name is Kate Patterson. I have long **dark **brown hair that many describe as 'ridiculously straight'. It comes down to the middle of my back, and has never really had anything more than the occasional slight wave to it. Right now has red sections dyed into it, and maybe a few splotches of pink. I'm thin, not breakable frail or model thin, just… Thin. I've never had much weight on my body, my boobs are miserably small, and my ass is nearly non-existent. Some people call my attractive, I wouldn't though. Don't men want something more than a pinch to hold onto?

Sorry, I'm getting away from my point. See, I decided, under the advisement of my dumbass brother (Ryan) to try gaming. He told me to pick any game from his 'vast' and 'impressive' selection. By complete chance I picked some game called '_Final Fantasy Chronicles'_. To be honest he seemed sort of confused, like he had never seen the game before. Either way he let me borrow that and his fat PS3 (there's a thin one?) to try it out.

So there I was, sitting in my room, on my messed up bed, holding the controller almost awkwardly. My ex had sometimes got me to play HALO with him, which was about the extent of my gaming past Pokemon when I was little, and maybe a bit of Mario. The thing powered up, and as I tugged at my 'rebel girl' tank top (it has a collar, this I found **amazing**), the game began.

Wasn't much to tell, the screen went to this big, blue chamber with etchings in the walls. It was just some cave really; in the center was a crystal. It was floating, if that was anything worth noting, and the carvings around it almost seemed to react to it as it slowly spun. The graphics were amazing, I'll give them that. The guy (though that's up for debate) entering the chamber looked real, like he was from _AVATAR_ or something.

The dude looked like a fag, not gonna lie. He was almost **too** feminine, with long eyelashes, eye shadow and liner, and fair skin. It almost made him look like a fairy, literally. His outfit was a pale blue, lilac and black. His top cutting off just below his shoulders and exposing his entire chest (which seemed to sparkle, ha, maybe he's come reject vampire). His pants were the lower half of a temple robe or something, same colours, with maybe a demonic floral design? It was hard to take the guy seriously.

"Wow…" I smirked; I remember how amused I was. "Someone's queer…"

"This is it?" He questioned; his voice smooth and calm. The view changed so it was like I was the crystal and he was staring at me. "This stabilizes _everything_?"

He was talking to himself, I just shook my head. Were all games this boring? He kept droning on about some important balance or another. I was too preoccupied with my pants, I had just bought them. Black, like my shirt, with pockets and zippers. I adored cargo-pants and useless zippers, it made the whole thing look better.

"I'm being watched."

"Huh?" I looked up, and he was still staring at me. Creepy thing was; it was like he was actually seeing **me**.

"Well, all problems have solutions…" He outstretched his hand, and the crystal shattered.

"Oh look at you…" I joked. "You're bad aren't you? Blowing up a piece of rock."

The game went to a loading screen, and stayed there for a good five minutes before an error message popped up.

I frowned, wholly unimpressed by the entire fiasco.

"Whatever…"

_That was my dramatic and supposed-to-be-impressive return to the world of gaming._

_I really wish it had of stopped there._


	2. Zanarkand

**Final Fantasy**

**Zanarkand**

To say I was confused was an understatement. I had, if I remembered correctly, lain down on my bed after that stupid game had failed. I must've fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes probably a second afterwards, I **wasn't** in my room.

In fact I had no idea where the hell I was, all I knew, was that it **wasn't **home. It was a massive city of dark colours and bright lights. The structures all had curves, and deep blue and violet bodies. Bright aqua lights illuminated the windows and street lamps, and even the road was covered in elaborate designs of blue, red, black and white. I stood there, taking in the beautiful and daunting sight with my mouth slightly opened. Everything around me sparkled with some sort of majesticness I had never experience.

"Ho shit…" I muttered, taking a step back. "Where the hell am I?"

"The Abes are playin'!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Jecht's son is supposed to reveal some big move-"

I blinked, looking at the sudden rush of people around me. They all moved and spoke without giving the surroundings a second glance. A couple gave me a strange look before moving on, having something apparently better to do.

_What the hell is an Abe?_

My answer didn't come to me, as I began to follow the crowd I was too nervous to ask anyone. Whatever it was, or whoever they were, everyone here seemed to know them.

I felt out of place, my clothes were different; all the women seemed to have perfect curves and bodies. Mine was the same, thin and almost flat but not quite.

"You comin' to the game?"

I looked over to my left and saw a boy a bit younger than me. He was staring at me, so I assumed he had asked the question.

"P-Pardon?"

"Are you coming to the game? The Abes are playing!"

"Uh…" I faltered, "I don't know."

"Didn't get a ticket in time?"

"Something like that…" I lied, looking up and stopping dead. "Woah…"

In the distance was a building unlike anything I thought my imagination could come up with. It was massive, looking like a football stadium only about three times the size. From my vantage point I could see two huge stone statues of men 'guarding' the entrance and the crowd who was gathering there. The top part was moving, extending out as a massive semi-sphere of water began to rise up.

The boy was looking at me strangely.

"You've never seen a blitz-sphere before?"

That sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. I frowned, crossing my arms as I thought about it.

"No, I haven't." I couldn't lie about that, I looked over at the kid. "What is it?"

"Wow, where are you from lady?" He laughed. "You've never heard of Blitzball?"

"Sounds… _Vaguely_ familiar."

"Heh well, I'm sure you'll remember it when you get there." He smiled and took my hand. "Come on, I'll show you."

The closer we got to the blitz-sphere, the more people seemed to take notice of me and the kid leading me forward. I briefly wondered where his parents were, he couldn't be older then fourteen, and yet here he was, leading strange girl through a huge crowd of people. I found myself shooting a glare towards anyone who seemed about to comment on my odd clothes or looks.

He stopped pulling me soon enough, smiling at the two grand statues in front of the doorway. I however, was too preoccupied with the sky, it was beautiful, and the archway of water flowing over us was surreal. Not a single drop of water fell, and I found myself wondering exactly how they did that.

"What's your name?" The question caught my attention.

"Kate," I replied, frowning as someone bumped into me. "What's yours?"

"Mine's-" He was cut off by the ground trembling for a second. "What was that?"

Something told me to run and I desperately wanted to listen. But my feet wouldn't move; I barely managed to help my guide up before the ground shook again and I found myself awkwardly thrown to the floor. People had fallen quiet, gazing out in all directions in fear and confusion. I gulped, slowly standing again, that gut feeling to run was screaming at me now.

There were numerous soft 'whiz' sounds before a couple of loud pops exploded right over our heads. Then came the screaming, something that confused the hell out of me until I looked up. The stadium, or whatever it was, was crumbling! Giant pieces of it were falling from where they once were, they slammed down into the water surrounding the building and others flew towards the crowd.

Then I recalled, I'm **in** the same crowd.

I don't know if I screamed, but I certainly moved. Covering my head as rubble and rock came raining down from above. People were fleeing in every direction, and I just happened to look up in time to see a group of people get crushed by a falling wall. I felt my body turn cold, the boy who had helped me had been one of those people. To shocked and confused to even move.

_Oh my god…_

I stumbled over somebody and crashed to the ground. Yelping as rock and debris slammed down around me. I wanted to wake up; this had to be some stupid nightmare. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. My heart was pounding so hard it felt as if it wanted to bash its way out of my chest.

_ALIEN much?_

It was an odd thought for the predicament.

"What is that!?"

I couldn't help it; I scrambled to my feet and looked in the direction the woman was pointing.

Looming over the stadium was another massive sphere of water, almost like that blitz-sphere thing but… darker. The water was almost black from where I stood, with strange moving lights inside. It also was a good couple of stories higher than the blitz-sphere itself. I was in silent awe, unable to blink or even think in its presence.

This all seemed so familiar, like I've seen this somewhere before.

I forced my gaze away from it and saw everyone still staring. I frowned; I had already watched my guide die, like hell was I leaving these people behind without at least trying to help them.

"Run!" I cried, and they looked over at me. "Run god damn it!" I moved over to the closest person and shoved him, snapping him out of his gaze. "I said **RUN!**"

They listened (finally) and bolted from their places. But in my escape, something hit me in the back of the head. I could barely hear the _thump_ over the screaming and resounding bangs of things being destroyed, but I sure as hell felt it. My body wavered and my eyes fluttered as I tripped and crashed to the ground. I groaned, rolling onto my back as I weakly stared at the doom-sphere that was moving in my direction. My eyes were almost shut, but it looked like the buildings where beginning to bend and tear themselves apart.

_Are they floating?_ I thought groggily as my eyes rolled back into my skull. _N-No.. I can't… fall asleep… I m-might… never wake.. up…_

_I thought I would wake up eventually; everything was too real and too personal. These people, they were dying around me. The only deaths I'd ever seen were in movies._

_But this dream, this… Terrifying ordeal was __**different.**_


	3. Tidus

_Alright, so I finally got around to introducing a character people might recognize. I haven't written this sort of fanfiction for a while, so if he's OOC I apologize. Hope you enjoy~_

_* ~ *_

**Final Fantasy**

**Tidus**

_Hey…_

Somewhere in my delusional mind, I could hear someone. It was a strange sensation, the world was returning to me. I assumed it was Ryan trying to get me out of bed, for an instance I swore I felt it, warm and comforting.

"Hey…"

But then it turned hard and uncomfortable, not to mention cold and wet. I groaned, not wanted to get up and find out what had happened to me or my room. My head was pounding, and I could just make out the patter of hurried feet and sobs.

Who was crying?

"Urgh…" I managed, furrowing my brow as I slowly moved.

"H-Hey!"

That was definitely **not** my brother's voice. My eyes snapped opened, much to their dismay as neon lights shot into them. I groaned as my hearing came back and I could take in everything; including the distance screams of people, and random explosions.

"W-what?" I sat up slowly, feeling someone's hand on my back as I did so. I looked to my right and saw who my helper was.

He had blond hair, though dark brown roots were beginning to show. His skin was tan, like he spent his days down in Florida surfing. His clothing was odd; of course everything about this place I couldn't wake up from was out there. He had a yellow crop-top t-shirt that exposed his chest and black leather overalls.

Alright, while this place was weird, his outfit at the moment took the cake. I dumbly stared at him in disbelief, what was my mind on to be able to come up with crap?

"Hi…" I said shakily, wincing as I spoke.

"Are you alright?" He questioned, helping me off the ground slowly. "I-I… You were the only one breathing…"

"I… what?" I looked around; coming to the horrible realization I had not moved an inch. There were bodies all around us, pools of blood forming and running down the cracks of the road. I was thankful to find out the wetness I felt was just from plain old water. I'm not sure how I would've reacted to being covered in blood.

I felt my stomach churn at the sight and I immediately shot my gaze to the ground. "O-oh my god…"

"We should get out of here.." He sounded a tad more assured then me, so I gladly let him play leader. "Come on.."

The road I had originally taken to get to the stadium had been destroyed; it had crumbled and fallen onto a lower level. I raised an eyebrow at the path; it didn't look safe in the least. There were still bodies strewn around, and pieces of buildings still slipped from their holdings and slammed onto it occasionally.

"… What's your name?" I looked over at him, and he looked back. He seemed surprised I had even asked.

"You don't know?"

I blinked. "Should I?"

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I… guess not, but everyone else knows who I am."

"Consider me the exception." I retorted, and began carefully down the ramp to the lower road. "People here seem to assume I should know a lot of things…"

"I'm Tidus," He answered, grabbing my arm as I nearly slid down the ramp. "I'm a blitzball player."

"Yeah…" I frowned looking at him. "People seem to assume I should know what that is too."

"You don't- AHHH!"

We were both cut off by the ramp suddenly jolting forward. With a frightened yelp from Tidus we tumbled down roughly. I groaned, head over heels I rolled down with little grace to the lower path. I gritted my teeth in frustration, this nightmare didn't seem to keen on ending anytime soon. Just as I began to recover, the blond wonder slammed right into me, sending me spiraling back to the ground.

"Urgh…" I growled, eyes opening quickly.

"Sorry…" He bit his lip in embarrassment before helping me up. "I lost my footing.."

"Yes, I noticed…" I grumbled, brushing myself off. "Do you know what attacked this place?"

"No… We don't usually get attacked by anything." He crossed his arms as he thought. He had an amusing thinking face, as if it took a lot out of him. "Maybe a fiend or two would appear but nothing that _big_."

I found it so comforting to know that this city was probably not equipped in any manner to deal with a massive water-ball that wanted to kill everyone. To be fair, places like Toronto, Sydney, and New York probably wouldn't be ready either. As the ground shook again we moved on, before he spoke again.

"So… What's your name?"

"Eh?" I looked at him, and suddenly realized I hadn't introduced myself. "Oh, I'm Kate."

"Kate?" He spoke as if the name was odd. "Where are you from?"

"Richmond Hill…" I replied without a second thought.

"Where?"

"It's…" I blinked. _Of course, I'm dreaming. He wouldn't know where that is. _"Nevermind."

We had a good amount of silence as we pressed on; and while there was a reason to hurry, we couldn't. The destruction made it far too dangerous to just bolt down the street, and the uneven ground made walking a challenge alone. I let out a sigh I didn't know I had been holding in and kept my eyes to the ground, watching the water run around my shoes.

Tidus stopped a few feet ahead of me, getting my attention by telling me to look.

I obeyed, raising my head and staring out at the sea of destruction before me. That sphere was far into the distance, hovering over some tall buildings as it ceased its destructive nature. I tilted my head curiously, stepping up beside him as my eyes took in the dark sky, clouds of smoke and the evil water-ball.

_Something about this is so familiar.. _

"What's up?" Tidus questioned, "got a plan?"

I looked over at him. "You're oddly calm about this entire thing."

His expression wavered, and I suddenly realized it was all a façade. His oceanic eyes showed all sorts of emotions, all of them relating to horror and fear.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," He shrugged, breaking away from my gaze. "I figured; it's better to panic later right?"

I half-heartedly chuckled. "Yeah..."

"Besides, that thing is way over _there._ What do we have to worry about?"

On cue, as if the universe was planning this, something growled. Tidus and I glanced at each other. Neither one of us wanted to turn around and see what that thing was, but it was inevitable. Tidus took the initiative, slowly pivoting on his heel to face whatever it was. I couldn't see what it was, but I could see his fearful expression and his tan skin paling.

I took a sharp breath of air before swinging around.

_Why did he have to tempt fate with that question?_

"What… the hell is _that?_" I questioned, staring at the monster as I couldn't decide if it was utterly ridiculous or scary.

It was covered in grey scales, with bright glowing eyes and fluttering wings. Its feet were sharp and pointed into a single, sickle like claw and it had this odd inability to stay still as it stared at us.

"It's a fiend!" Tidus panicked, taking a step back which caused the creature to move forward.

"Right…" I cringed, as more crawled over the edge of the road and joined the leader. "Can you fight?"

"No…" Tidus nervously looked at me. "Can you?"

"Uh.. well…" I frowned. "Not that, no… Probably not…" I bit my lip and glanced at him. "Run?"

"Run."

So we ran. I'll give the guy credit, while he seemed a little shaky, he could run. He was a good five feet ahead of me and the gap was only growing wider as he nimbly leapt onto a higher ledge while I was forced to climb. Of course even assuming what I was doing was climbing was giving me more credit then I deserved. I could barely reach the edge of the slab of rock that had collapsed onto the bridge-way, let alone leap-frog clear onto it.

With more effort then I cared to put into most things, I hauled my ass up. I grunted, attempting to lift a leg up to give myself a bit of an easier time. To my dismay however, I looked up not to see Tidus barreling down the road, but those crazy monsters before me, snarling and moving closer.

_Oh shit._

As one of them began to shake and make its wings glow and spark, I screamed.

"TIDUS!"

_I wasn't a hero; I didn't want any part of this fight or dream. _

_I desperately wanted to wake up._

_I wanted to go home._


	4. Horizon

_Alrighty, here's the next chapter in the adventure. :3 Worked a bit more direct action into this one. __Some familiar faces make an appearance~_

**Final Fantasy**

**Horizon**

The moment I cried out for him; Tidus must've swung around and came back sprinting faster than before. Just as I caught a blur of yellow and black, the creature with the sparking wings was sent careening over me and onto the lower roadway. I blinked, seeing Tidus on his hands and knees from the brutal tackle he delivered.

The creatures hissed, stepping away from him as he recovered and looked at them.

I was thankful for the rescue; it gave me time to get up beside him. We were surrounded; two more of those things taking the place of the one he had killed. Though as there was a hiss from behind us, all he might've done was succeed in pissing it off.

"Thanks…" I panted, forming my hands into fists. "L-looks like we have to fight…"

Tidus frowned; glancing to the side he snatched a twisted pipe from the ground and held it like a bat. "We can do this."

I looked at him, surprised. "We can?"

"Sure!" He looked at the body a bit behind the monsters. "Just look what happens if we lose."

"Sound logic, though not comforting in the least…" I grumbled.

The fight wasn't exactly going in our favour. I rushed one, managing to knock it over before the blitz player ran in and smacked it as hard as he could with the pipe. It let out a roar in protest and the others ran at us, one of them tackled me easily to the ground only to be knocked off by Tidus. He slammed the thing so hard it went flying right off the bridge.

I gritted my teeth, scrambling to my feet and away from the monsters.

"This.." I panted, trying to recover. "Isn't working…"

"We need another plan."

"I like running myself." He looked at me, before swinging the pipe to keep the creatures at bay. "Unless you have a better idea?"

He was quiet for a moment, backing up as the fiends regrouped. "If we can make it to the next bridge-"

"Right then," I pivoted on my heel, "commence retreat!"

"H-hey!" He cried, racing after me. "Wait for me!"

_Just let me wake up! _I thought bitterly as I watched Tidus take the lead again, though not by much this time.

This entire scenario was beyond comprehending. I was stuck in some crazy ass dream in a city being destroyed with a surfer dude who wears a damn crop top! It was almost like joke, a horribly cruel joke where the entire idea behind it was to drive me insane with crazy fiends and floating doom-spheres!

My adrenaline was beginning to run low, I could feel the ache of my muscles and exhaustion breaking through the fear and disbelief of the situation. My lungs burned, I had never ran this much in my entire life. Tidus seemed to be having an easier time; of course if the game he played took place in a sphere of water, he would have to be fit.

Unless my dream threw that little fact of reality out the window too.

"There!" He cried, picking up pace a bit as we sprinted towards the second bridge.

_Oh for the love of god… _I cursed, looking at the retreat point.

I had honestly thought the retreat plan was a good idea until I saw what was before me. The damn second bridge was on an incline, something that wasn't exactly tempting at the moment. I wanted to kill him; tackle him to the ground and end him for even suggesting this idea. But that probably wasn't wise considering what was chasing us.

"Tidus!" I called as I reached the bridge. "I had trouble getting up to this road level, what the hell gave you the impression I can run up anything on a remote incline!?"

He looked down at me, clearly bewildered at my sudden outburst. I was reaching the end of my cord with this nightmare. "It's not that steep!"

"That's not my point!" I roared, grudgingly beginning up the bridge. "I'm not some blitz player with unlimited stamina; I am a _normal_ human being."

He hurried back to me and took my hand. "Come on, we can take a break up here. They've stopped chasing us."

We reached the middle and took a break. I collapsed onto my knees, thankful for finally stopping. Tidus leaned over, panting heavily as we cherished the few seconds we had to recover all that energy we spent. I didn't know what to do anymore, everything before had been about surviving, and running had provided the most obvious method of self-preservation.

Now it wasn't clear, we had a moment to think. We had been running away from the stadium and towards the monster. In return it seemed too had moved towards us, floating closer and closer.

"N-now what?" I tried to stand but my legs shook and fell back to the ground.

"I dunno.." He admitted, looking at the monster in the sky. "It's coming back..."

"Yeah," I replied as I looked at my bleeding arm. "I noticed."

"Hey," Tidus knelt down beside me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just one of those things got me." I winced as it began to throb with pain.

"Uhh.." He frowned, and pulled a cloth from his pocket. Hastily he pressed it against the wound. We both watched as it began to turn red. "That should help, I think."

I smiled at his effort. "Thanks."

He rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled nervously. "Don't mention it."

There were numerous squeals and shrieks from the direction we came from, and both of us looked. I instinctively stood up, ready to run should the need arise, despite my shaky legs. Tidus appeared on edge, his body was tense and fists clenched as something neared.

There was the distinct tapping of heels, not belonging to some fancy shoe, but a boot. My father had once shown me the difference in sound. Heels had a 'fancy' click. While boots had a practical, if a bit intimidating click.

"Miss! Miss! W-wait for me please!"

Tidus and I shot a look at each other. Over the hill came a woman with a very cold persona. She looked emotionless; her eyes scanned the area and focused on us for a second before moving on to the sky. She had light park hair, and wore a white jacket and a light brown skirt.

My eyes drifted to her feet; there was the source of the clicking. Her boots, though somewhat odd in appearance, had a slight heel to them. She reached the top of the hill and stood a couple feet away from us, hands on her hips she stared up at the creature drifting towards our current location.

"Who're you?" Tidus asked, lost on what to do. She just shot him a glare before going back to the sphere.

"Miissss- Oof!"

Both of us looked over to see an odd fellow fall flat on his face. The woman glanced over her shoulder before grunting and crossing her arms.

"If you can't keep up, go home." Her words were hard.

The person she spoke to was rather odd. He was short, no taller than the boy who I had met before. He wore a patchy, brown hat and an oversized blue coat with white and green thickly striped pants. With a bit of a moan of despair he forced himself up and hurried over to her side.

"I-I can't… I-I don't even know…" His face was completely hidden by the odd shadow his hat cast. The only thing I could see was his bright, round yellow eyes. He looked at the woman and ducked behind her. Even as he whispered we could hear him. "_Who are they_?"

"We can hear you." I frowned.

"If you're gonna whisper, trying being _quieter._" Tidus added in, tilting his head.

"Oh… R-Right…" He then whispered to the woman, who just shook her head.

Tidus decided to try his question from before. "Who are you?"

The boy helplessly pointed to himself, and we nodded.

"I'm V-Vivi…"

"And she is?"

He was about to answer before he brought his hand to where his mouth should be and bowed his head. "I-I don't know…"

"Is it smart to travel around with some woman you don't know the name of?"

He looked at me and shrugged. "S-she saved me."

"From those monsters?"

She looked over at me; her stare was as figid as deep-winter ice. "Yes those ones, and about every other thing we've encountered. I've even had to save him from himself."

"How…?" Tidus questioned.

Vivi shuffled uncomfortably. "I-I lit myself on f-fire…"


	5. The Crimson

_Ahaha, life was busy and I couldn't find time to read this over. Worst of all I've hit a bit of a block for 'Evil Forest'. I'll get over it eventually, force myself along. :3 _

_Hope you enjoy~_

**Final Fantasy**

**The Crimson**

"We need to get out of here." Tidus pointed out, breaking the silence between the four of us after Vivi admitted to burning himself. "That thing is coming back."

Vivi nervously glanced at the pink-haired woman, who seemed to be intent on ignoring us. "M-Miss?"

"I'm not running." She stated flatly, walking over to a damaged vehicle of sorts. Or I assumed it was a vehicle, it looked vaguely similar to a large truck.

"W-what?" Tidus gulped, not understanding the logic behind that statement at all. "That thing will kill us-"

She swiveled around quickly, fire suddenly in her eyes. "That thing will destroy this entire city, exactly where do you want to run?"

Tidus clenched his fists. "Well standing here waiting for it isn't a good idea either!"

I glanced between them, noting how the doom-sphere was getting closer. "Guys…"

"Miss, h-he has a point…" Vivi practically withered under the glare he received. "N-nevermind…"

_For the love of God… _"Hey!" I cried, my temper boiling over. "I hate to break up this debate but that bubble blaster is coming back!"

Everyone stared at me before the woman scoffed and went back to fiddling with the truck-thing. Vivi stood awkwardly alone, nervously glancing up at the sky as Tidus and I exchanged glances and tried to figure out what to do. If there was nowhere to run, exactly what were we going to do? The warrior-woman seemed to not care in the slightest; she just went on fiddling with the controls.

"Damn it…" She cursed, pacing back and forth.

I looked at Tidus. "Should we try to help her?"

My suggestion didn't please him in the least. "I'm not, she's nuts."

"Maybe she has a plan.." I shrugged, looking back over to her.

"Why do I get the feeling we're not included in her plan?" He frowned as I began to walk over to her, albeit, cautiously.

When I approached, she gave me a glare. Though it wasn't nearly as harsh as the ones she had given to Tidus and Vivi. She tapped her foot quickly as she stared at the dark blue truck; its front end was sparking and smoking. I didn't know what she wanted with it, the thing was totaled, even in dream standards. Slowly I stepped up beside her and tilted my head at the wreck.

"Um…" I began shakily. "What's up?"

She glanced at me as she bit her lip in thought. "I'm thinking."

"It won't work," I offered my opinion, even if it wasn't what she wanted to hear. "It's a wreck."

"Hm.." She stepped towards it again. "I don't need it to work.."

"Oh?" I crossed my arms. "What do you need it to do then?"

She was silent for a long moment, and in that time I noticed the weapon hanging from her hips. It looked like an alien rifle in a plain, grey holster. "I need it to explode."

"What?" That wasn't the answer I was expecting. "Why?"

"To get up there." She gestured too the sphere in the sky.

_Tidus was right, she's nuts. _"Um… Sorry for the hundred questions but… _Why?_"

She looked over at me with an irritated expression.

"Sorry?"

She let out a sharp breath and went back to thinking. I was quiet for a couple of minutes as I thought over exactly why anyone would want to soar towards that thing. I didn't come up with an answer, only another question.

"What's your name?"

She didn't look at me. "Lightning."

_Yes, that makes sense. Weird world, weird names. Why did I have the slightest hope she'd be normal? _"Cool name…"

Lightning stopped what she was doing for a moment before going back to playing with the controls again.

"Uh… Guys…" Tidus gulped, taking a step back.

Lightning and I both looked over at Tidus, who was staring almost straight up above us.

"It's here…"

Not a single drop of water fell from the sphere; it seemed to have the same magical ability as those columns. The dark water bubbled and wavered, and at points it looked as if all of that was going to tumble down onto us. Lightning's eyes narrowed and she whipped out her gun which to my amazement, shifted and changed into a sword. Vivi ducked behind Tidus, who looked like he wanted to run.

I did too, that thing was evil. I could feel it in my bones.

"It's stopped…" Lightning spoke in a hushed voice.

"W-we should leave…" I gulped, glancing at her. "Something isn't right."

There were a couple of bright flashes and a second afterwards I heard Tidus yell.

"**Look out!**"

Those flashes were the same as at the stadium. They emitted a strange whizzing sound, before all around us was rocked with brutal explosions. I fell to the ground, covering my head as debris rained around us. Lightning managed to keep her balance, almost snarling at the monster over us. Tidus was at the side of the bridge, holding onto something.

_Wheres… _My eyes widen as I looked back at Tidus who was struggling to pull something up. _Oh no…_

"Vivi!" I cried, rushing from my spot to help Tidus.

The two of us managed to pull the strange boy back up, who stood up carefully. "T-Thank you!"

"Get to the center!" Lightning ordered, taking a few steps back.

We hurried; even as I was forced to use Tidus as support. The ground was shaking and pieces of it were cracking. I nearly tumbled right into Lightning, who was far too focused on what was happening to bridge to notice my lack of balance (thankfully, she probably would've killed me for touching her). The four of us went back to back; nearly falling over at points as the bridge jolted and surged from its normal position.

For the briefest of seconds we were falling, but we hit the ground again sooner than expected. I crashed into the colourful pavement with a curse before I began rolling. It was on a near 90 degree slant; frantically I grabbed at the indents before my fingers grappled a ledge and locked me into place.

Tidus had let out a yelp of surprise as he hit the pavement and forced his armoured hand into a crevice. Seeing Vivi fall, he awkwardly grabbed the boy by the coat, who didn't seem to appreciate his view into the endless darkness below us. Lightning of all people, was still falling; unable to grip anything. Ignoring the gut feeling to not tempt fate, I swung myself over, just grasping her arm in time before she slid out of my reach.

We were hanging thousands of feet over the ground, ocean, or whatever had been under this bridge. It was slowly righting itself, and we were praising whoever was looking out for us as we took to standing on our feet again.

At a snail's pace the piece of the bridge was lifting higher and higher into the sky, towards the water.

"Well," I looked over at Lightning. "You got your wish."

She frowned; obviously this hadn't been how she imagined she would get up there. "Apparently…"

"You really are nuts!" Tidus accused. "That thing is going to kill us!"

"Oh ho ho, no little boy… Sin isn't going to be the end of _you.._"

I blinked, looking at the monster. _Who the hell…?_

She flew down from the monster, a blur of red which hit the pavement so hard that more pieces of debris went flying away from her. Slowly she stood, her red eyes scanning each one of us before a sick smile spread across her lips.

The woman was wearing all red, her top was long sleeved, a mix of leather and metal work. A long piece of crimson fur hung from her hips and lay on the ground behind her. She took a particular interest in me for a second; that twisted smile only turning more so as she fixed with her strange, wavy crimson hair.

"Look at you four…" She chuckled, her eyes shooting over to Lightning as she unsheathed her gunblade. "So very lost in a big city…"

"W-who are y-you?" Vivi gulped, peeking out from behind me.

She raised an eyebrow, and looked back at me. "You don't know?"

I blinked. "Should I?"

For a split second she appeared confused, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "Hmm… No matter, if she doesn't know then I'll gladly introduce myself…" She reached behind her and pulled forth a double-ended sword. Or that would be the closest comparison I had for it. Its blades were a faded red and white, with stains of what could only be blood on them. "I am Rosso The Crimson."

"Did you unleash this thing in Zanarkand?!" Tidus roared, enraged.

_Zanarkand? I __**know**__ I've heard that before…_

"Ahaha, sadly no…" Rosso looked up at the monster. "Sin isn't my creation, but it's a lovely toy don't you think?"

Tidus glanced at Lightning. "I take it back, you're not nuts…" He glared hell and fury at Rosso. "She is…"

_Rosso The Crimson implied I should've known who she was. But I was like the rest of us; I didn't know anything, least of all something about a psychopathic red-head. _

_Why me?_


	6. Gateway

_Narg writer's block… D: I WILL BASH MY WAY THROUGH WITH HAMMERS. YOU HEAR ME?_

_Anyways, here's the next bit~ Sorry for the delay!_

**Final Fantasy**  
**Gateway**

Considering there was only one Rosso and four of us, you would think it'd be a one sided fight for the larger team. That wasn't the case, as Rosso was beyond what could be termed as 'fast'. She rushed Lightning in a blink of an eye, knocking her flat onto her back with a hard thud.  
She then turned her attention to me. I went wide-eyed with fear as she charged, the strange fantasy-sword held out behind her. I wasn't a fighter and I most definitely did not have a weapon, I was about as useful as a pocket knife in a gun fight.

"Hey!" Tidus called, "catch!"

Rosso looked over, I guess she was curious. She turned just in time for a soccer-ball sized piece of rubble to shoot towards her at a ridiculous pace. She tried to block it, swinging the blade in an elegant fashion that resembled a sort of dance. But that did absolutely nothing, the chunk shot through her defense and crashed into her chest.  
Rosso roared as she went careening backwards, turning it into a sort of hop and flip to right herself. The crazed woman smiled at Tidus.

"Brave of you, but foolish." She twirled the double-sword again before running at him.

That was a fatal mistake, in her anger (and probable insanity); she hadn't entered Lightning into the equation. I watched her rush in from behind, nearly getting a hit in before Rosso blocked again and went on the defensive. Her speed was nearly matched by the warrior-woman, both of them turning into blurs of pointy-edged objects as they tried to kill one another.  
I backed up, watching sparks and light fly as the two weapons slammed into each other. It reminded me of a lightsaber duel from the STARWARS movies, a beautiful dance of death and agility.

Vivi gulped and rushed over to me, ducking behind. "M-Miss, are you o-ok?"  
"Think so," I nodded to him. "Are you?"  
"We're floating h-higher…" He pointed to the massive thing Rosso had called Sin. "I-I don't want to t-think about what h-happens when we reach t-the top.."  
"Neither do I…" I admitted, feeling utterly useless.

"Argh!" Rosso had been hit while I wasn't looking; she staggered back from Lightning, glaring daggers. "Bitch…"

Lightning didn't reply, she just stood ready.

Blood flowed freely from the hit she had on her arm, and that seemed to give all of us a bit of hope. If she bled, which clearly she did, she could die. The challenge was she seemed difficult to kill, she forced Lightning back, managing to kick the pink-haired woman in the stomach before delivering a powerful uppercut.  
She went sprawling backwards, landing on her back with a dazed groaned; her weapon flinging out of her hand. It landed a mere foot away from me.

Rosso chuckled darkly. "I'll be the end…" She glared at Tidus. "Of both of you…"

From her hand shot a black orb, in the time span of seconds I watched it make the light and air around it bend, waver and warp to its own contorted energies before smashing into Tidus. He let out a helpless cry, being knocked clean over the edge. He just managed to grasp the ledge.

"Tidus!" I cried, about to run to where I could see him desperately holding onto the edge before I heard a grunt.

Rosso had delivered a kick to Lightning's head; she slowly lifted the woman up by the throat. Her eyes quickly looking-over the nearly unconscious warrior with a demented smile.

"He told me to bring you back…" She cooed, as Lightning weakly brought her hands up to grasp Rosso's. "But, you're far more trouble than your worth…"

I looked at Vivi. "Help Tidus!" I ordered, grabbing the fancy sword off the ground.

"W-what are you going to do?" He questioned helplessly.

"I'm…" My eyes went to the blade, looking at it with hesitation.

I had never fought before, not even in dreams. I wasn't much into violence, I had only watched movies and even then I had never in my wildest dreams thought about doing anything remotely close to that. Well, that was, until now. Dream or not, this felt far too real to just be 'Oh no, there goes Lightning'.

"I'm going to fight." I narrowed my eyes and charged, ignoring the feeble calls from Vivi.

Rosso looked as if she was whispering something to Lightning when I reached her. I swung the sword above my head and with as much force as my tired limbs could muster, brought it crashing down.

There was a thump and an odd feeling as the blade hit Rosso's back, it sliced clean through her clothing and into her flesh. I guess I hit her bone, because the sword stopped suddenly for a reason I couldn't really grasp. The Crimson roared in anguished, dropping her intended victim and stumbling forward.

I stared at her blankly, before I looked at the bloodied weapon that was tightly in my grasp. Rosso pivoted around, enraged. Her eyes seemed alight with fire and brimstone as she tightened her hold on her own weapon and approached me.

"You…" She hissed, though then began to laugh. "You don't even belong here, and you dare challenge me?!" Rosso broke into hysterical laughter.

"W-what…?" I blinked, wavering. "What do you mean?"

"Doesn't matter…" Rosso grinned. "In seconds you'll be dead."

Something about that chilled me to the bone. I got the feeling I wouldn't wake up if I let her dice me.

"S-switch…." The groggy, half-hearted voice from Lightning came from her limp body. Her eyes began to roll back into her skull.. "… Switch…"

I blinked, taking my eyes off of Rosso I looked at the side of the weapon.

A switch…

_How convenient…_

As Rosso came at me, and I flicked it. The weapon bent and collapsed the blade flipping inwards. Gears spun to life and there was a faint 'click' as the rifle formed. I didn't have time to think or say anything really intelligible, I just aimed and fired.

"HIYAAAAAAAA!!!!"

I told you I didn't say anything brilliant. I just screamed whatever wanted to come out of my mouth. Apparently a terrified, teenaged war cry was what my vocal-cords found appropriate.

Her eyes went wide as I fired, the recoil on this thing was ridiculous but the spray went into The Crimson. The woman shrieked; staggering back in horror as her weapon faded away into the air. I fell ungracefully onto my ass, clinging to the rifle like a life line.

"You bitc-"

Tidus cut her off with a tackle; smashing his left-side into her. Rosso screamed, flying off the platform before slamming into some floating debris. Her body went limp, and she slipped off the piece she hit and into the darkness below.

_Thank God._

The platform shook, and quickly began to crumble as I rushed to Lightning's side. She was unconscious, blood leaking from the wound on the side of her head. Tidus and Vivi moved towards us, careful to avoid the developing cracks. Vivi approached quickly, looking up in surprise.

"The water!"

I looked up, awestruck as the water rippled and pushed away. It revealed a massive swirling grey and pale-skinned orb. Over us was a bright, manhole sized entrance that the pieces of the city were crumbling and flying into.

"Christ…" I murmured, grabbing a hold of Lightning and clutching the gun. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained…" I tried to sound assuring.

Tidus took several steps back, not wanting to face the light.

Lightning's eyes opened a tad, she looked at me confused. Gently she grasped my arm.

"Serah…"

I looked at her, lost on what to say. _W-who?_

The light consumed me, I watched as Lightning faded away and the world soon after. I was lost, it felt like I was in some chaotic mess, being pushed and shoved in every direction. Almost like riding the back of a bus with some crazed driver going over every pothole and bump he could afford while swerving around corners.

For a minute I thought I felt ground beneath me, and in the distance I could hear Rosso's mad laughter. I wanted to open my eyes, but something told me not too. I wasn't ready to see what was around me, so instead I kept them firmly shut. Waiting for something to happen…

It did, I was thrown into that horrible mess again and then I hit what could've only been the ground.

**Hard.**

It was moist and soft, while the air was damp. My mind reeled from whatever happened, so instead of getting up, my body lay still. My conscious thoughts drifted farther and farther away until I was dreaming.

_Don't I only dream if I've fallen asleep?_

A horrible realization dawned on me.

_Have I been awake this entire time?_

_  
If I wasn't sleeping, then I had to be going insane right? Had I fallen into a random comatose state back home?  
More importantly, how do I get home?_


End file.
